Idec: Ex-NHL enforcer enters the ring

PATERSON — Nathan Perrott’s preference was to spend Thanksgiving Day with his family.

The former NHL tough guy has two sons who live in Cleveland, Andrew, 8, and Kevin, 6. Perrott also has two sons who live with his wife, Sarah, in Perrott’s hometown of Toronto, Bruce, 4 months old, and Broderick, 10.

"It’s tough on you and it’s tough on your family," Perrott said. "But when you’re chasing down your dreams, there’s always a price to pay."

Perrott played professional hockey for 15 years, including parts of five NHL seasons with the Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars. Hockey is behind him after playing two seasons in Russia, though, and he has moved to Clifton to learn how to fight all over again.

The 6-foot, 235-pound Perrott has turned to boxing in hopes of making another one of his dreams come true. The heavyweight trains daily at the Joe Grier Boxing Academy and will fight for the second time as a pro next week.

"I was a fighter in hockey, but the technique that goes into being a legitimate boxer is so hard to get," said Perrott, a second-round draft choice of the Devils in 1995. "Hockey fighting is such a different skill because you’re on skates. I’ve got a lot of bad habits from hockey fighting. I’m trying to correct those technical flaws."

Perrott, 32, estimates that he got into more than 400 hockey fights since his childhood in northern Ontario. Perrott and his handlers also quickly admit, however, that he has a long way to go before he is ready to show off his boxing skills to a fan base that they expect will strongly support a former NHL player in hockey-crazed Canada.

"He’s coming along nicely," said Paterson’s Grier, Perrott’s trainer. "He’s got speed, he’s very elusive, very sharp, has instincts. He can punch. He just hasn’t learned to execute properly. But he’s starting to come around. He’s making sacrifices and putting a heck of a lot into it. He’ll get it done."

They’ll learn how far Perrott has come Dec. 4 at the famed Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. Perrott, who is scheduled to encounter New York’s John Bolden (pro debut) in a four-round fight, won his pro debut there Sept. 11, when he stopped Philadelphia’s Makidi Ku Ntima (1-1, one KO) in the fourth round.

Perrott boxed in four amateur matches in Ontario, most recently in 2006. But it wasn’t until he decided his hockey career was over that he took up Oakland native Mark Puttenvink on his offer to move to Passaic County to train with Grier.

Puttenvink, a strength and conditioning coach who has worked with the Devils and Rangers, met Perrott through a mutual hockey friend in 2006, when legendary trainer/manager Lou Duva was looking for a hockey player who wanted to box.

"Nathan and I hit it off right away," Puttenvink said. "And I said to him, ‘You wouldn’t move your children to Paterson to learn how to play hockey. You’re not going to learn how to fight in Canada. You’ve got to come down here.’ I think he realizes that he made the right decision."

BUTE-ANDRADE II: Super middleweight contender Librado Andrade will get the opportunity Saturday night to pick up where he left off against Lucian Bute 13 months ago in Montreal.

Andrade (28-2, 21 KOs), of La Habra, Calif., earned a shot at avenging his controversial unanimous decision defeat to the unbeaten Bute by easily outpointing Ukraine’s Vitali Tsypko (22-3, 12 KOs, one NC) in a 12-round International Boxing Federation elimination match April 4 in Montreal. Had he not topped Tsypko to become Bute’s mandatory challenger, Andrade likely would’ve been left lamenting the strange ending to his first fight against Bute on Oct. 24, 2008.

Bute was winning their fight handily on points, but Andrade drilled the exhausted IBF super middleweight champion with a right hand toward the end of the 12th round.

Referee Marlon B. Wright was criticized for an unusually long count that prevented Andrade from attacking a battered Bute before the bell sounded to end the fight. He stopped counting to direct Andrade back to a neutral corner, despite that Andrade was nowhere near the corner in which Bute had reached his feet.

"Andrade cost himself a knockout win by leaving the corner," Wright said. "If he didn’t leave the corner, he would’ve won by knockout."

The Romanian-born Bute (24-0, 19 KOs), a southpaw who lives in Montreal, is commonly considered one of the top three super middleweights in boxing. He cannot move forward with his career, though, unless he convincingly defeats Andrade.

The Bute-Andrade fight will be the main event of an HBO "Boxing After Dark" doubleheader from Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City, Quebec.